Y/N POV:

Daphne rubs my shoulders and shoves me gently towards the common room's exit. "Stop stressing, love, you're gonna do fabulous."

"I know, I know." I bite my lip and slowly walk towards the exit. "It's just... it's the first game with me as captain, and it's against Gryffindor, which means there's a lot of pressure. And one of my best players is out." Vaisey, one of my chasers, was hit with a bludger during practice a few days ago. I chew my bottom lip again, and Daphne puts her finger vertically across my lips.

"No biting those kiss machines." Daphne instructs. "Keep them pretty." She pats my cheeks and smiles. "You got this. You're going to wipe the field with Gryffindor and make their captain cry. We'll have a wicked party for the first but not last win of the season after. I've already heard some older students planning it."

I smile back. "Thanks Daph, that means a lot." I leave the common room and head down to the pitch, which is still relatively empty. I pass the Gryffindor quidditch team, and get some dirty looks. As in, dirtier than usual.

Whatever.

I nearly bump into Harry's friend Ron. He's the keeper for their team, and I've seen him out practising on his own time. If I were his captain, I'd be proud of how hard he's been working.

He stumbles out of my way, and I enter the changing room. My team is arguing about one of the plays I drew on the chalkboard last practice.

"What's wrong with it?" I fold my arms.

"Nothing, captain," Montauge insists. "But these two idiots want to just go mad and hit at anyone!" He shouts, pointing at my beaters.

"You two better get your act together. If you're the reason we lose against Gryffindor, I swear I'll find other beaters, no matter who they are." I threaten, moving into a stall to change.

The arguing dies down, and as I'm strapping on my protective gear I hear Montague laughing with the twisted two. (That's what I call Crabbe and Goyle).

I'm glad they're finally getting along. I come back out and see the three boys howling with laughter.

"Alright lunatics, get it together." I demand, picking up my broom.

Then I realise the reason they're getting along. Attached to the three boys' lapels are pins. I also notice a pin on my keeper, Harper, and a pin on my other chaser, Warrington, and my replacement, Flint.

I strut over to Montague, knowing he's a tiny bit afraid of me, and grab the front of his quidditch robes, pulling him upright so I can read his pin.

Weasley Is Our King

"What is this?" I let go of him, and point accusingly at the accessory.

"Want one, captain?" Montague digs into his pocket and offers me one.

I smack the pin from his hand and it scurries across the changing room floor. Montague looks at me in surprise, his jaw ajar. "I have to say, considering the game hasn't even begun yet, I'm already disappointed in you lot. We are going to kick Gryffindor's arses anyway. Why do we need to belittle a single player?"

I expect my little speech not to do much, and I'm surprised that the rest of my words bubble back down my throat as most of the team begins to actually look remorseful. Everyone actually takes off their pins and dumps them into the rubbish bin.

Of course, everyone except Crabbe and Goyle.

I'm proud of the rest of my team for pulling their heads out of their arses, and I raise my broom into the air. "One, two, three?" I offer.

"SLYTHERIN!" My team shouts, and we move onto the pitch, a new urge to win settled beneath my skin, as well as new appreciation for my team. (Minus my two beaters.)

But a mere twenty minutes in, the game isn't going well. Gryffindor has scored more than us, and I'm still working hard to spot the snitch before Harry.

I see Warrington score a point, and I see Ron hunch over in defeat. The green and silver crowd roars in approval, and they start singing some sort of song. I only catch a single line, but it's enough for my face to heat up in a mix of annoyance and disappointment in my house.

"WEASLEY IS OUR KING!" The Slytherin stands chant. Of course even though I could prevent my team from being idiots, I can't stop the whole house.

In my annoyance, I fail to notice the snitch on the other side of the pitch, and by the time the flash of gold has registered in my mind, Harry is already flying after it.

"Shit." I zoom towards the snitch, my arm outstretched even though Harry is much closer than me. Even in my efforts, I already know that he's going to catch it.

"AND POTTER HAS CAUGHT THE SNITCH! GRYFFINDOR WINS!!" Lee Jordan, the Weasley twin's cute friend who is announcer at the quidditch games, shouts.

I fly to the ground, shame burning my face. I'm pissed at myself for getting so distracted, and at my housemates for being such blithering idiots. I hope everyone doesn't hate me when I get back to the common room, especially since it's their fucking faults.

The anger at myself disappears and transfers entirely to Crabbe as I watch him slam a bludger towards Harry's back.

"YOU PIECE OF SHIT!" I shriek, landing on the ground as quickly as I can. I don't even know what I plan on doing, but right now beating the shit out of Crabbe seems like a reasonable option.

Harry is sprawled on the ground, as the bludger knocked him off his broom, and thank goodness he was only about six feet off the ground.

I see Angelina sprint to Madame Hooch to report the foul, and I roll my eyes in embarrassment for Crabbe. The rest of my team dismounts and looks at me regretfully before heading into the changing room.

Madame Hooch blows her whistle before Angelina can even get a word out, and Professor McGonagall has also come by to yell at Crabbe. The rest of the Gryffindor team is celebrating, as they should I suppose, and no one seems to have noticed their fallen seeker. It's kind of funny, actually. I notice Malfoy heading onto the pitch, and not wanting to be anywhere near him, I head towards Harry.

"You alright?" I ask him.

"Yeah, it wasn't that bad of a fall." He stands up and rubs the back of his neck, clearly trying not to wince in pain.

"I hate to admit it, but you did pretty well." I tell him, gesturing to the snitch still struggling in his hand.

"Thanks, Y/N, you did too."

"Sure I did. I had one job, keep the snitch away from the only kid at Hogwarts who needs glasses, and I fucked up." I retort, a playful smile on my face nonetheless. Harry looks like he's trying not to give me the satisfaction of laughing, but he smirks regardless. I'm distracted from the satisfaction I received anyway by a cold tone.

"Saved Weasley's neck, haven't you?"

I turn around to see Malfoy, who looks more furious than I am that our team lost. I resist the urge to call him a sore loser. "I've never seen a worse keeper, but then again, he was born in a bin."

My jaw falls open. This blonde ball of daddy issues probably orchestrated the whole song. What the hell is wrong with him?

Someone grabs my arm. "Leave it." Harry mutters, and I know he can tell I'm centimetres away from pounding Mafloy into pulp. The rest of the Gryffindor team is still celebrating, Harry and I are the only one's aware of what's going on. I notice Ron heading to the changing room alone, and as much as I'm glad he's not hearing this, I'm more glad my team isn't out here to possibly encourage him.

"We wanted to write another couple of verses!" Draco adds, as Katie Bell and Angelina come to hug Harry. "But we couldn't find rhymes for fat and ugly, we wanted to sing about his mother, you see—" He's cut off by my hand making contact with the side of his face.

"Malfoy, I told you to get the fuck off my pitch!" I shout, my anger at the whole situation of this match about to make me explode.

"This isn't any of your business mudblood!" Malfoy sneers, and I hear Angelina gasp in horror. Despite the slur, I smile at the fact Malfoy has a hand to the red spot on his cheek I just inflicted.

"Don't talk about her like that, Malfoy." Harry steps in, and my eyebrows raise in surprise at his defence. "In fact, don't talk about her at all." He continues, my stomach squeezing at his defence. "And don't you ever say anything against their family." Harry threatens, his tone practically frightening.

Malfoy takes a step back, but I can tell he's not done. "We couldn't fit in useless loser either, for his father, you know?"

I can't believe him. I see the Weasley twins shaking someone's hand, but they stiffen halfway, slowly turning towards Malfoy. I would have already knocked him out, but I'm scared that with Umbridge around there's a chance I could lose my position as captain if I got in a fight.

"Leave it," Angelina says firmly, latching onto Fred's arm. "Leave it, Fred, let him yell, he's just sore he lost."

I know she's right, that he's just spitting rubbish he doesn't really mean because he's a sore, spoiled loser, but that doesn't make me want to hit him any less. I already felt like shit because we lost, and he has to go make everything a thousand times worse.

"—But you like the Weasley's, don't you, Potter?" Malfoy sneers.

"Shut it, right now, Malfoy." I say, my tone unusually sharp. George (I'm pretty sure) appears at my side, and I can feel him starting to simmer.

"Spend the holidays there and everything, don't you? Can't see how you stand the stink..." Draco continues, an oblivious idiot. I grab a fistful of my quidditch uniform to resist swinging, wishing I had my wand to curse him into oblivion. Harry grabs George's arm, who has taken a dangerous step forward.

"L/N, can you help me?" Angelina hisses, motioning towards Fred. He looks angrier than me, and he's definitely about to swing. Angelina and Katie grab his arm, and I grab the other one.

"Fred...He's not worth it." I warn, but I don't think he can hear me. I turn my head around to find Madame Hooch, but she's still yelling at Crabbe for his illegal bludger attack.

"Or perhaps," Malfoy sneers as he takes a step back, apparently not a complete idiot. He knows a few people are ready to swing.

"What part about shut the fuck up did you not understand?" I swear, but he ignores me.

"You can remember what your mother's house stank like, Potter, and the Weasley's pigsty reminds you of it—"

His words are stopped.

I didn't even realise Harry had let go of George, but I finally realised Malfoy had shut up because Harry's fist, still holding the snitch, was lodged in his diaphragm.

Hot.

"HARRY— GEORGE— NO!" Angelina yells, but she's too late. Harry and George have the looks of people ready to kill. George shoves Draco so hard he falls backwards to the ground, and a twisted part of me wants to laugh. So I do, while maintaining my grip on Fred to stop him from joining the fight, even though I wouldn't mind if he did.

Harry presses his knee into Malfoy's stomach. "Fuck you, Malfoy!" Harry yells, punching him in the face with the fist still clutching the golden snitch.

I literally can't do anything but stare as George and Harry beat the shit out of Malfoy. I wish someone would paint it into a moving picture, because I'd hang that shit up in my dorm room to look at everyday. Art is unfolding before my eyes.

Malfoy's flailing beneath Harry and George, bleeding and struggling desperately, but is no match for Harry, who's so angry I'm pretty sure he could punch through a wall right now, and George, who has a beater's build and could probably punch through a wall even if he wasn't this angry.

"IMPEDIMENTA!" Madam Hooch's voice shocks me from my stupor, her spell throwing Harry and George off of Malfoy. "I have never seen behaviour like it!" Madam Hooch spits, her face twisted in fury at the two. "Back up to the castle, both of you, and straight to your Head of House's office! Go! Now!" She commands, and I look at them pitifully as they leave, starting to worry that they'll be banned from quidditch.

~~~~

"Hey Potter." I plop down beside him potions. Daphne told me I should sit with him in this class, and she didn't mind because she had a test she needed to study for anyway.

"Hey L/N." He replies, picking his head up from his hands. "Just in time for your favourite class."

"You think my favourite class is potions because I'm a Slytherin?" I ask, acting offended.

"Well, yeah." Harry tries to look confused.

"My favourite class is actually Transfiguration, I'll have you know, and just because Snape is my head of house doesn't mean I have to like him."

"What was that, Miss L/N?" Snape appears out of fucking nowhere. The class becomes dead silent to stare at the two of us.

Great.

"Not your conversation, that's what." I reply.

"Five points from Slytherin." He growls, then turns around to begin his class.

"That's probably the first points he's ever taken from Slytherin." I nearly laugh. "I must have really pissed him off."

"Yeah, and if a Gryffindor had said that, he would have taken fifty points." Harry adds.

"And if it had been you it would have been one hundred." We both try not to laugh because it's true, and Snape turns around to glare at us. I lower my voice. "Congratulations on beating up Malfoy, by the way."

Harry actually blushes. "Yeah, about that. I got banned from quidditch for the rest of the year, and she took my broom."

I raise my eyebrows in surprise. "You hated fighting me for the snitch so badly you got banned? That's sad, Potter."

"Fuck off." Harry smirks, leaning forward on his forearms and looking away from me.

~~~~

The breeze plays with my front hairs, and I smile as I lean back against the courtyard wall. Surrounding me are Anthony, Michael, Terry, and Daphne, whose head is resting in Terry's lap. Us five have been hanging out more since Weasley broke up with Michael. I think he's doing better though.

Although now that she's single, I'm kind of tempted to shoot my shot.

"So Michael," I begin. He turns towards me. "I guess I'll be squaring up with your ex."

"What?" Michael looks briefly concerned, and Anthony and Daphne share a look.

"Word is Weasley is replacing Potter as the Gryffindor seeker." I fold my arms and blow a strand of hair out of my face.

Michael looks at me regretfully and pats my shoulder. "Oh, good luck, she's scary on the pitch."

~~~~

A/N: I have a few things to apolgoise for, one, not posting in so long, two,  the longness of this chapter, and three the time skip. i didn't know what to write in that random void of time. i hope you enjoyed nonetheless

if u read this chapter, i appreciate u very much and i hope u remeber how much harry (and i) love you<3

- wheezely